Climate Refugees:
What happens when humaninfluenced environmental change
impacts the fundamental existence of
an entire community?
Nature & Society: Climate Refugees
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Define “climate refugees” and climate change
Examples of climate refugees
Incorporate key concepts of human geography
Discuss implications and solutions for those
displaced by human-influenced environmental
change
What is a climate refugee?
• No universally agreed upon definition
• Also known as “environmental refugees” or
“environmental migrant”
• An estimated 50 million people have been
displaced in the last four years because of
rising sea levels, desertification, dried up
aquifers, weather-induced flooding and other
serious environmental changes. (UN)
What is a climate refugee?
• "People who are displaced from- or who feel
obliged to leave- their usual place of
residence, because their lives, livelihoods and
welfare have been placed at serious risk as a
result of adverse environmental, ecological or
climatic processes and events." (UN)
• Many are technically IDPs, but the media
refers to them as refugees
What is climate change?
• Environmental response to increased levels of
green house gasses (GHG) in the atmosphere.
• Most GHGs come from industrialization and
development.
• Earth is not just warming, but reconfiguring its
whole climate.
What causes climate change?
Climate Change impacts
• More frequent and severe weather patterns
(including storms and drought)
• Rising sea levels
• Coastal erosion
• Ground water salination
Relevant Concepts
• Cultural ecology vs. political ecology
• Impacts of land-use change on the
environment
• Industrialization and urbanization have a
global impact.
Examples of climate refugees
350.org
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Bangladesh
Small Island States
Residents of Tuvalu, a Polynesian Island situated midway between Hawaii
and Australia, struggle with rising sea level.
Maldives
Carteret Islands
Carteret Islands
The islands are so small that they’re barely visible on the map.
Google doesn’t even ID
Carteret Islands on the map
Nature & Society
I=PAT
(Impact on Resources = Population x Affluence x Technology)
But who is using the resources?
And who is feeling the impact?
Alaskan barrier island struggling to combat sea level rise.
Key Concepts
• Cultural ecology vs. political ecology– Which
best relates to the plight of climate refugees?
• Land-use change affects the environment,
both locally and globally.
• Industrialization and urbanization (land use
changes) have a global impact.
Political Ecology and Climate Refugees
• Carbon in the atmosphere is unseen, difficult
to comprehend its role in environmental
change
• Climate and GHG mitigation policies influence
the global environment (atmosphere, oceans)
• Cap and Trade
• Global policy impacts cultural ecology
Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Are the Boloxi-Choctaw
Indians climate refugees?
Conclusions
• Marginalized communities feel the effects of
climate change first and most severely
• Those who contribute the least to climate
change are impacted most
Climate refugees flees coastal Bangladesh to the inland slums. (Radio Netherlands)
Want to learn more?
• www.350.org
• www.islandsfirst.org
• http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/
• Talk to me!